Ryokan Wakatake Futtsu

... Welcome to the Jungle`. Unfortunately, this stunning piece of rock history was not caught on film, but I`m sure it will live on in the hearts of all those who were privilledged enough to witness it.

Tomorrow we`re off to Hiroshima for some relaxation time in the afternoon before hitting the Peace Park & Museum and Baseball match on Wednesday.

Hope everyone`s well. We`ll be seeing you before you know it.

RL

... I got my picture with her (but I had to wait in line, there were other tourists there getting their picture with her). I read that you aren't allowed to take pictures inside, so we just got a picture of the outside. It was a very cute shop! I got Amy one of her presents there from a vending machine inside. It was a gothic-lolita hello kitty bobble head keychain. I got one, too, but it was a punk kitty with the f word on the back of her shirt (lol).

... an umbrella. Think British winter and you'll be ok!

Shibuya was another highlight. Do not do a Kelly and Spencer and mistake the four way intersection for the car intersection just before the train station. We weren't all that impressed with it.......... until we saw what all the travel guides were actually talking about! There are so many massive TV screens, lights, people, traffic, noise, shops, food and drink restaurants I can't even begin to tell you ...

Hirokuni Etuda, Kyoichi Mizuno, Koh Arakawa, Kimio Satomura, Toshio Shibuya, Kazushige Isojima (Summary) Studies in pigs and dogs show that intimal injury is related to coronary artery spasm; it is not known whether intimal injury is related to coronary artery spasm in human beings. We examined intima at the site of coronary artery spasm by percutaneous transluminal ...

... we continued walking through an area called Shinjuku which is well know for its bars, restaurants and night-life. We passed numerous interesting looking establishments and ventured into one of the little bars called 'Mysterious', more out of curiosity than for anything else. The bar was in a basement of the building and when we reached the bottom of the staircase we were greeted by a lady at the door. She looked a little startled and asked if she could help ...

... to seats (not nearly as good as the first night yet still nice but more expensive -classic!) with a posh minted 'American' (Chinese through and through with barely english to her skills) that we picked up in the lift up. I guess she was lonely and as Si requested a table for two in subtle hint ahead of us, she stuck with us to the table and so i had to ask her to join! To Simon's relief, she only stayed until we'd given her some chat - again loving that Simon was a doctor haha.

... dinner hours, there are a few seats, there are also several tables for stand-up only eating. Get your noodles, slurp 'em down and hit the road. Think of it as fast food to the second power. But it makes sense. Japan is crowded. Do what you gotta do, and then let others do the same. Restaurants and cafes keep this concept evident by not typically offering refills for most drinks. This cuts down on people staying for a long, long time. After all, there are usually plenty of people ...

... in my area aren't as high, i know when you get downtown its gonna be lots of big buildings, but the thing is in Seoul its all big buildings even in the outskirts, all concrete. Last night i went and met shanes Korean mother surrogate :P she was a really sweet lady, i posted some pics of her house, its very traditional Korean style, they sleep on the floor its very modest, She is very wealthy and her husband was a architect for some Saudi firm ...

... it is vital he is always looking his best. The final thing you need to know about James is that he has his own water filter which is filled with bottled water, he really is a posh dog, we drank the water in Tokyo!!!! So there you have it, an introduction to James the wonder dog, James knows it a "dog's life" and quite frankly my dear he does not give a damn, he is loving it! Thanks for letting us stay James, we had a ball.

... rest" in a small café where we had delicious chocolate parfaits. After we rested for a bit Pimpim and Risa took me to an arcade where we took sticker pictures in a little booth. These sticker pictures are very popular with the teenagers in Japan. I can understand why, though. It was so much fun!!! After our picture session we headed back to the train station where we said goodbye to Pimpim and headed back to Risa's house. We arrived back home a little early and no one was ...